Writing for Understanding

1. Writing for Understanding Danielle Reese, Heather Cereda, & Emma Marquez

2. Step 1: Use writing to help your students learn key social studies concepts. • Writing during social studies activities supports students writing fluency. • Writing challenges students to clarify, organize, and express what they have learned. • Writing enables students to reach a deeper understanding as they draw on previous learning for supporting details. • Ownership of written products motivates students to excel. • The writing process compels Upper – Elementary students to refine their ideas.

3. Step 2: Give students rich experiences to write about. • Provide students with a variety of memorable interactive and interesting experiences to which they can base their writing on. • Experiences must tap into multiple intelligences. • Examples of “real-life” experiences that give all students something to write about • Different types of writing • Different experiences

4. Step 3: Have students record their ideas, thoughts, and feelings in prewriting activities. • Prewriting allows students to record their reactions, feelings, reflections, and ideas immediately after an interactive experience. • Allows lower-elementary students to experience early success with writing • “My Family Is Special” • Lower Elementary • Prewriting/Beginning-show family images and discuss differences • Structured Matrices • Upper Elementary • Annotated Maps: • Upper Elementary • Take notes and use notes to write a letter • Talking Buildings: • Upper Elementary • Brainstorm as a class

5. Step 4: Provide students with authentic writing assignments. • Authentic writing assignments motivate students to write with style and meaning. • Promotes experimentation and makes writing more exiting and novel. • Challenges students to be creative and detailed in their writing on key social studies concepts. • Examples from Social Studies Alive: • Civic Letter • Script Reviews • Journal Entries • Historical Plaques • Metaphorical Stories

6. Step 5: Guide students through the writing process. • Give clear expectation and precise guidelines for writing assignments. • Have students write a first draft. • Use peer-feedback groups. • Mixed ability groups • Require students to make revisions using the feedback they received. • Have students edit their final drafts before turning in a final product.

7. Lesson Outline: • This will be one lesson in the middle of our community learning unit. • After focusing on members of the community (policemen, firefighters, etc.) we will be writing a letter to them. • Letter will include what we have been learning and one question the student has for the community member. • This will be a quick version of how the lesson would run because in a real classroom we would give the students more time to develop their ideas.

8. Activity:Civic Letters • ODE Social Sciences Standard • SS.05.CG.05.01 Identify and give examples of resources that provide information about public issues. • Objective: • Students will be able to complete the pre-writing and brainstorming activities and then begin to write a rough draft of their letter to a community member.

9. _____________ Dear_____________, Our class has been studying the people and departments of our community. Two things I have learned about what you do are________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I have one question for you. ___________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sincerely, _________________________

10. Debrief • What went well? • What did not go well? • How might it have been improved, adapted, or modified for next time?